When an NFL player, or any professional athlete for that matter, performs at an elite or near-elite level season after season, it is easy not to stop the smell the roses and appreciate the player’s high-caliber play. That sentiment can apply to a whole host of NFL players, but for the purposes of this article, that sentiment applies to Green Bay Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander.
The world according to Jaire Alexander:
Stayed in Green Bay til April, left when offseason program began, came back for this week’s minicamp and said he’ll stay most of the summer.
Said he likes to be here when others aren’t and is fine missing out on his $700K workout bonus.
— Rob Demovsky (@RobDemovsky) June 13, 2023
The team’s 2018 first-round selection, Alexander proved yet again why he is one of the best corners in the league in 2022. He finished the year with 14 pass deflections and recorded career highs in interceptions (5), tackles for loss (4), passer rating allowed (66.4), and average depth of target (9.0), earning second-team All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors for the second time in his five-year career. His passer rating allowed ranked fourth among all qualifying defenders, according to NFL.com, while he tied for 5th in interceptions and tied for 12th in pass deflections.
Prior to the end of the 2022 season, ESPN.com’s Matt Bowen identified the Louisville product as the best zone cornerback in the NFL “due to his backfield vision and ball skills. Alexander will disrupt throwing lanes, overlap second-level throws and match with vertical routes down the field … and per NFL Next Gen Stats, opponents have minus-10.6 expected points added when targeting him in zone looks.”
He was not too shabby in man coverage last season, either, only allowing an average separation of 2.6 yards. Since entering the league in 2018, his tight-window rate (less than one yard of separation when the ball arrives) of 33.3% is second in the NFL, and he led the league in tight-window rate (42.3%) in 2020 among defenders that were targeted at least 50 times.
Moreover, according to Next Gen Stats , his ballhawk rate of 24% in man coverage ranked 11th in 2022 among all eligible defenders. Alexander was targeted 79 times last season, a high number no doubt, but it was to the quarterback’s detriment as his targeted Expected Points Added (EPA) of -19.9 ranked sixth among all eligible defenders, according to Next Gen Stats .
Alexander is not a perfect cornerback by any means – for example, he did get burned by the Chicago Bears “bum” wide receiver, Equanimeous St. Brown, during the team’s 2022 matchup at Soldier Field – but he is a damn good one. You could even call him great or elite. Don’t take that kind of play for granted because it doesn’t come around very often.
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